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Proletarian Poetry is a home for poets and poems that portray working class lives from many different angles; corrugated iron and bricks, brass bands, rogues, grandparents, historical figures, imprisoned poets, the contradictions of capitalism and communism, suffragettes, homeless, transgender revolutionaries, postman, bookmakers, and many, many more.

Its title is a tribute to the US movement of the 1920s with such poets as Langston Hughes (Read more: Introduction)

It is intended to include all forms of poetry: persona, personal, plain, lyrical, vernacular, and performance. Poems will of course cover the struggle but will also celebrate the everyday of working class life. Poems that pick out the unusual, the unsaid, and the unpopular.

PP is edited by Peter Raynard (@peter_raynard). Peter is a poet, playwright, and editor. He is a member of Malika’s Poetry Kitchen. His debut collection, ‘Precarious’ was published in April, 2018 by Smokestack Books. He has also written The Combination: a poetic coupling of the Communist Manifesto, published by Culture Matters.

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28 comments

Hi, Refreshing to see and read this site. Well done for setting it up.
Martin Espada and Fred Voss, who you are probably aware of, are poets well worth publicising.
Both celebrate the working class in a positive way.
Owen Gallagher, ‘Tea with the Taliban’, Smokestack Books, 2012.

Thanks very much Owen and for following. I love Espada’s Alabanza and read Fred Voss on the Morning Star’s Well Versed this week so will include them on my ever growing list. It would be great if I could feature a poem of your own at some point. I like the premise of your book and it resonates from my own experience with my Father born in the Gorbals and having been ‘mobile’ myself.

Hello. Love your site. Please consider works from my poetry Ebook. “SpiceRack Life Flavors 2 Savor.” It is the story of my life (I’m 51) as a multi-ethnic American Single Parent women working in a Male Dominated Field. It is currently listed in the Hot New Releases in Kindle Ebooks on Amazon.com in the Women’s Poetry Genre. Thanks for your time. Blessings, Ginger Jones

Hi Mr. Raynard. The poem entitled “Petal to the Metal” is my suggested poem to you from my book. Thanks for your quick response to my reply. I work nights and am headed to sleep now, but, I am usually up between 1pm & 5pm Eastern Standard Time. My current days off are Thursday & Friday. I look forward to your comments. I am already enjoying your website. Blessings, Ginger

Hi Peter,
Nice to know I share some history with your dad. I Ilved in Nicholson Street and Eglinton Street.
I liked your poem ‘Pure Gold’ on the HappenStance site. Please feel free to use any poem you consider from the book. There was one posted on the Morning Star site recently.

Just discovered your site through Roy Marshall. I’ve been looking for such a site for years. Would you take a look at my 2014 collection Welcome to the Bike Factory, published by Shoestring Press? It’s reviewed in the current PN Review and in London Grip.

Hi Peter, thanks for following my blog. Even if the poetry presented here is not always “to my taste”, the additional information around it is never less than interesting, and often fascinating. Good work!

I’ve co-edited ‘Red Poets’ in Wales for 20 years and both Owen Gallagher and Jonathan Edwards have featured in a number of issues. Would you be interested in featuring a poem? I am writing a series in Merthyr dialect based on one of my best mates who is on benefits and sofa surfing.

Hi Peter, I came to the PP event on 27 June, and enjoyed it. I thought you might be interested in below events in South Bank; especially the launch of ‘Scorched Glass’, where Sabeer Haka’s poems will be read – Sabeer is a construction worker and lives in Tehran/Iran.

Hi Nasrin, I remember, I put your email address down for The Shuffle. Thanks for following PP and for the information about the event at the South Bank. I cannot make the event but would however, like to feature Sabeer’s poems. I will email you this week if that is okay. Best wishes, Peter

I have shared tweets with you on Twitter. I am so glad to discover this page as it is ‘music to my heart’. I write poetry, prose and non-fiction the bulk of my work reflects on 30 years of conflict here in the North of Ireland, human fragility and social isolation. I have been criticised by some people with accusations of polemics. I don’t give a shit. Some of my stuff could be viewed as polemical, so what. Rant for today.